What has been your best (or worst) experience with a customer? ‌🤝

[Hailey]

Hey Seller Community! We are back with another Question of The Week, but first... Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈 

Today we want to know...

What has been your best experience with a customer?

What customer moment will you never forget? Is there a worst experience you would like to share? Go for it! Give us the best and worst customer experiences by replying to this thread. 

We look forward to reading your replies! 👀

[Hailey]

Today we want to know...

What has been your best experience with a customer?

What customer moment will you never forget? Is there a worst experience you would like to share? Go for it! Give us the best and worst customer experiences by replying to this thread. 

We look forward to reading your replies! 👀

[homeprogreen]

Not really any best but I do tend to have customers bringing me pies and other home backed goods. Small town life has its perks

[Hailey]

Thats a pretty great best if you ask me haha 

[WildberriesBtq]

The best experience is when customers thank me for their purchase. I got a call recently from someone who wanted to let me know that she wore her new blouse and got TONS of compliments and told absolutely EVERYONE where she got it. The worst, well, there are too many. Its the entitled ones that are rough. Sort of "dont you know who I am?". But I guess the best worst story involved my mom and a miserable woman many years ago. Its long, buckle up:

Miserable Lady (ML), to her two companions: huh! they used to have much nicer things in here? Huh! Their prices are so high! Huh, they used to have a much better selection of things!

My Mom (MOM): excuse me, ma'am, but if nothing here meets your exacting standards, maybe just leave, instead of insulting us?

ML: You're not seriously suggesting I leave, are you?

MOM: ma'am, if I told you to get the f*ck out of my store, would you believe me then?

ML, to her companions: Come on, we'll come back when she's in a better mood....

Being the owner, I have desperately wanted to tell customers to get the f*ck out more than once. But killing them with kindness is the wiser choice.

[Hailey]

MOMMA BEAR! haha I couldn't help but laugh reading that encounter 

[mythicrunning]

I had a customer who called the cops on me because I wouldn't give him the owner's (me) personal phone number so he could call to berate me about our return policy.  He ended up with a Trespass Warning. 

[Greenmonkey65]

I’ll never forget this moment.  We were doing a pop up at a festival, long before we had our brick and mortar.  We were at a non-LGBTQ festival but a big anyone festival in a small town in Eastern NC.  We were still selling our pro-equality, pro-gay merch and inspirational stuff. 
We had a group of high schoolers come into our tent. Several were smiling and just gushing over the rainbow items. Then, one of them approached us. He had tears in his eyes.  “How are you selling this! Isn’t this against the law? “. My husband and I looked at him, “Honey it’s not against the law to be gay”.  I’m not sure we were the first he had told he was gay but he now knew there were more of him out in the world.  I hope it gave him hope.

Our vision for The Green Monkey was to create a safe space for you to be you.  I believe we have achieved that. Our space is open to anyone no matter your gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political beliefs, rich or poor. (We do prefer a little spending money in pocket, not going to lie. 😜).  But you get what I mean. We don’t take ourselves to serious. But we do take serious that you have a safe space to be you!   
There’s one of my most memorable MonkeyFans but there have been many others positive and of course negative.

Rusty

[della123]

The worst experience I ever had is when a customer that I went to church with, buy two  human wigs and disputed the purchase and then wear one after the other to church while I had to watch her. she won I lost my case against her she did apologize and went on disputing other stores how do you like those bag of apple

[mythicrunning]

The credit card company ALWAYS sides with their customer. 

[acctdept3sservi]

JUST NOT HAVING NONE OR ENOUGH. BUT, WAITING FOR THEM TO BEGIN THEIR BROWSE EXPERIENCE AND PURCHASE MY  PRODUCT BRANDS AND SERVICES. ITS A GREAT EXPERENCE. NEED IT TO START ASAP. I DONT KNOW WHAT IS STIGNANTING MY SALES. NEEDING THAT PURCHASING CROWD. MORE SALES, SATISFIED CONSUMERS AND BETTER PROFIT.  

[yourdadlovesme]

Hello fellow Sellers. Definitely, my worst experience with a customer happened about 1 year ago. I do work on guitars. Repairs, refinishes, set ups, modifications, and a lot of other things. This happened during lock down when all of the sudden every middle aged man age 45 and older who had always wanted to play guitar their whole life finally had the extra time on their hands to get a guitar. Well, this guy decided that he was going to just start his guitar playing career by going out and buying as many $4,000 guitars as he could find even though he had only been playing for 4 months. So, he already felt like he knew more than I did when he called me to tear all of the metal frets out of a RARE vintage guitar that he got from a Pawn Shop. To help you all understand you usually dont want to have to ever refret a vintage guitar because they are worth more if they have all original parts. However, if the frets are all worn down to the point that leveling them all won't leave enough of the metal material left on it to work with then, yeah you have to refret it. So, the guy brings me the guitar and I quote him my usual price, $300. I usually have new customers pay half down and half when they pick up their guitar on a job that big and expensive so he pays the $150 down. This helps me out because I have to buy the new fretwire and anything else I might need. So, I refret and dress up and make this guitar look awesome. I get out my guitar polish that I ALWAYS use on all my customer's guitars and as I am polishing the guitar the freaking finish litteral just wipes away in one spot! Down to bear wood. It was a spot that I thought looked a bit odd but it being from the 70's lacquer tends to age and crack and do some odd things, but NEVER have I had it just wipe off like it was nothing. It was obvious that whatever pawn shop he got it from either got completely taken by whoever sold them the guitar, or the pawn shop totally got this customer of mine. So, obviously I am freaking out but its just the finish. I can fix it. The guitar plays wonderfully in fact its one of the best playing guitars I have ever done a refret and set up on. So I tell the customer what happened and of course he screams and yells at me and tries to tell me that I"M the one whos got no itegrity. He trusts the pawn shop fully. So, I said well how about this I'll bring it to you. You can see how awesome it plays and instead of owing me that other $150 for the fret dress you  just keep that and i'll respray the guitar for you. Well, he didnt trust me to fix it. He rather of had somebody else fix the finish. Even though I was going to do it for free. So, I told him well yeah if you want to take it there thats your call. Then he asks well are you going to pay for it? I literally just told him he doesn't have to pay me that other $150 that was agreed upon at the beginning since this happened on my watch. I still did the refret and put all the hours in and made the guitar play great so I was just going to take the $150 he put down and eat the cost of fixing the finish. So now he expects me to fully refund him so he can use that money to pay this new guy to fix the finish. When I dropped the guitar off he literally came out with a flashlight ( it was 2 P.M. and a magnifying glass) and he looked over the entire guitar. As hes looking over my fret job he's pointing out all kinds of things that he claimed I did and that I ruined the guitar, even though he doesn't know what he is talking about. I guess he expected the guitar to look like it just came back out of the factory in Japan back in the 1970's. Thats not how it works. Sometimes repairs, like pulling out all the frets , do a little bit of damage and I have to fill all that in. No matter what its going to show SOMEWHERE that its been refretted. Long story short he wouldnt sign the paper I wrote up stating and covering everything because he wanted all his money back . He didnt even strum the guitar to hear how it sounded. Then he started physically threatening me so that was it. At that point I was pretty sure I had no more ties to the guitar or owed him anything. I kept expecting some kind of complaint from the BBB (even though I'm not a member ) or a yelp review , or bad review on Google or Facebook. Nothing ever came of it. Turned out the guy that he took it to that refinished it bragged on my fret job so much the whole time he was spraying it that he ended up sending some business my way. Everything happens for a reason. If mistakes don't happen we can't learn from them. That was my worst experience with a customer so far. 

[Michael_L]

Gotta throw a "best" experience in the mix here!

A customer I photographed at a church (we do photo directories) contacted me asking if I could help do some Photoshop work on a couple old photos.  This is really not my business - we do some light editing and I know how to use PS of course, but I'm more about taking the photos and editing/restoring old photos is a different skill.  Still, I remembered the customer and said I'd take a look.

He arrived with his wife, and the two of them brought me a couple older photos and a great story about his parents, how they met and some details about their journey through life.  The couple in front of me were in their 60s so the photos were quite old, but they wanted to make copies for their kids.  The banter between these two was delightful, we had some laughs and I made a scan of the photos before they went home.

It didn't take too long for me to make the copies, the originals were in pretty good shape so there was less restoration than I had expected.  I kept the price reasonable and delivered them some prints within a week or so, and they were delighted!  The gentleman came back a few times in the following weeks to say thanks - and I kept telling him of course he was welcome, but he kept stopping by and eventually brought me some special beer he had tracked down that was made in his home country.  The amount of thanks and gratitude was heartwarming.

I'm always grateful for the clients who appreciate my work, and especially thankful for a career that helps people capture and preserve their memories for future generations.  Photography is a great business to be in!

[DisGrunt]

A customer filed a fraudulent charge back claim to the tune of ~$3,500 and Square just rolled over on me and gave it to them with no recourse save for costly legal action. This was to be the final payment for several months of regular payments grossing over $50k for a home remodel, but after materials and paying subcontractors this severely cut into my take home pay. Maybe I should thank Square for reducing my tax burden for that year.

[mksavage]

I recently had a really heart-warming experience with a customer. He was an elderly man who waited a long time in line (we were in the middle of a rush), ordered a yogurt parfait, and sat down by himself. When I ran the food out, I noticed that he'd been a little shorted on fruit. I wanted to make it right, so I asked the team to cut up some extra fresh fruit for him, and went back to his table and said "I noticed you didn't get enough fruit, so I wanted to bring you some extra." He was so touched and said, "Oh wow, there really is still some good in the world." After he finished eating he came to find me and tried to pay me for the fruit. I told him that it was on me, that I just wanted to make sure he had enough fruit and that I hoped he had a wonderful day. He teared up and said "I think you may have just saved my life." I have no idea what he was going through that day, but one of the most meaningful things about the work we do is getting to be just a small bright spot in someone's day. You never know what burdens people are carrying, and sometimes the smallest kindnesses (that don't even seem notable to us) make a world of difference.

There are plenty of really difficult customer experiences, but thankfully it's the good ones that tend to stick out when I look back over the past 8 years.

[Readypackco]

Hey Recently I have experienced a reluctancy with customers trusting the system with their card information.  Demographically the area I provide service for is a small and cash to hand type of place but I am grateful to utilize the tools that have been made available by Square 🙂  I have! modernized my business - no more living in the ice age for me! 

[jjsmeatshak1]

We have run into this issue alot lately as well. 

[MayaP]

Hi !

Thanks for reaching out @PapaJsKitchen & jjsmeatshak1 .

Can you provide some further details on this issue? Specifically which app are you using?

We appreciate it! 

[jjsmeatshak1]

hey @MayaP The issue lies within the customers trust with card transaction these days. Especially for us when we are sending invoices via email or text... customers are not wanting to pay online because of trust within cyber world.   We are also experiencing square sending customers a copy of their receipt to them via email when the customer nor the cashier entered one. (I know that this can be caused by the customer entering in the email with another Square Merchant) But when you try to explain this to customers they dont understand and get mad. 

[MudFire_Dex]

Best: every customer saying the space makes them feel welcome 🙂 - we get a lot of rave reviews on Airbnb specifically because of the system they use to follow up after a visit. Some visitors become long-term members because they love their experience so much. And they say the funniest and sweetest things about how grounded they feel here, how safe, and one recently said you just get to be here having the best time with your silly little clay. I am very proud of our instructors and everyone running their own small business out of our maker space as well.

One customer stands out in my mind as the 'worst' because he consistently made jokes about my gender, sexuality, and one of the final interactions we had that I had to completely shut down was saying that he felt entitled to a smile from specifically young women in the studio because they should be grateful to be there (we have a work exchange that allows our mentorship program people to access the studio 24/7). He felt put out because he was a paying member - members have access 57 hours a week to our space - and that he felt like the team who had the 24/7 access should be so grateful to have access (mind you they are paying with time spent maintaining community materials like kilns and glazes) that they should great him socially and with a smile and always be interested in what he was doing. My point to him is that this is their place of work - they are here to get work done too and they weren't here to please him personally. Our program's intent is create gender and racial parity in ceramics and increase diversity in the medium at large. He signed an annual contract and we were stuck with him but I had a conversation that he didn't deserve those things. He started an offsite group chat with 5 other members who consistently talked about which young female staffer was a b-word and which were nice and how much they hated following my "rules" as a paying studio member feeling like they deserve more than our mentorship program folx. Any correction, or reminder of the contracts they signed was taken as a personal affront by this group. It was a very nasty situation that resolved itself during the pandemic. For him specifically because he was on an annual contract I paid out the rest of his membership to ask him to leave because during pandemic closure I offered to rent members that were still paying a wheel to take home, offered to continue to fire their pots, and he was like what more can you offer me? When the studio opens back up will I get to come on Tuesdays (a specific day that staff only are allowed here)? So I had a conversation with him about privilege and what it meant to ask something like that and presume that $ spent was more valuable to me than the work that my young team of marginalized mostly trans, LGBTQ, and BIPOC mentees who were paying with their work exchange to the studio. I said no thanks....and all 5 of the hate group folks used pandemic unemployment and stimulus to buy equipment at home. He threw rocks at me as he was leaving the space (in my direction not directly at me, and nearly forgot the check I wrote him paying out his membership). Honestly, all I felt was relief watching him leave the studio for the last time.

Getting rid of this customer was something I should have realized I could do far before this point. I endured personal harassment for several years and internalized it as something I had to deal with for being LGBTQ+ myself and being non-gender conforming. One thing the pandemic did was give a lot of time to think about how I was protecting myself, my business, and the young people here affected by his words.

I won't make this mistake again and next time (hopefully there won't be one) I won't value $ over my personal convictions. All customers aren't right and all of them don't need to be my customer. I'm here to create community and that is my number 1 core business value.

[Stacelyn24]

We've been so blessed to have so many wonderful clients.  I have to say that some of the best moments with my clients was after my dad passed away.  The way they extended their selves to me graciously...was there for me inside the salon and out.  One of my clients made an amazing quilt.  Inside she had "Daddy's Girl" with his name.  Her intentions was to have it done before he passed so he could wrap up in the quilt and I could use it afterwards with a part of him still here...now that was a great gift/memory!!!!

[Kingsmassage]

I have 2 good and 1 bad.  First the good.

I was working at Massage Envy in Slidell, LA fresh out of school.  One day a client came in for a 60 min massage.  At the end of the session I told her to take her time getting dressed while went to get a bottle of water.  I was at the door when she came out and I handed her the water.  She thank you and went on her way.  I walked in the room to reset it I found a $5 tip and a note scribbled on a torn envelope.   It read "Mr. King your massage was worth $100 but being a single parent I can only afford 5.

About a month later another lady came in for a 60 min massage.  After the massage she came out with a timid voice and wanted to know if she could ask me a question.  I said sure what is it?  She explained that a friend had told her to go to several therapist before choosing one as hers.  I said that is good advise not every therapist is for every client.   She then asked me if I would be her therapist.  My heart instantly became a big lump and I said that I would be honored to be her therapist.  The sad part of this encounter is that my wife was in the military at the time.  Six weeks later we received change of station orders and I never saw her again.  It is rare that one can find a job that can have such an impact on someone life.

Now for the worst.  This occurred a few weeks ago.  A man came in and asked my prices then decided on a 60 min massage.  On the intake form he indicated that he has had a professional massage before.  With that in mind I didn't go into the whole spill of what to do.  I just told him to strip down to his comfort lvl and to start face up.  When I entered the room he was on the table face up as instructed, with no covering.  I said, You need to be under the covers.  He said, Its OK, I'm comfortable this way.  I said, That may be so but the law requires you to be covered at all times.  So, I told him that I could do a towel draping and that that was the minimum that I can do.  I got a towel and covered him up.  Went through the massage without any further issues.  As I wrapped up the session I said Alright sir that is the end.  Before I could say anything else he said something.  Now I did hear what he had said but I was dumbstruck and said, I'm sorry what was that?  He repeated what he had asked.  In most cases I'm not of quick wit but I was in rare form.  I calmly stated that that was beyond my scope of practice and that he needed to see a doctor for prostate massage.  I then told him to take his time getting dressed and I would meet him up front.  He came out paid for the massage and unexpectedly left a pretty good tip.  I can no longer tell my female counterparts that I am glad that I am a man and not put up with what you ladies have to go through.

[Hailey]

OH MY GOSH! I feel for massage therapists for the exact reason you explained in your "bad". I hope that isn't a common occurrence.